I've been meaning to write a post about this for a while. It's an issue that's been at the back-and often the forefront- of my mind for a few months, because there are people begging and sleeping rough wherever I go in Paris.
There's an old man who limps in and out of the traffic when it stops at the lights at the Vavin intersection, shaking an old coffee cup at the drivers. There's a very disturbed guy who sits outside one of the cinemas on the Place du 18 juin 1940, shouting incomprehensibly at nothing. On the same Place, a family of three sleeps on a mattress outside one of the little newspaper kiosks. I walk past them every time I go to the swimming pool
Often somebody will get on the métro and resignedly recite a speech to the carriage, explaining they have no food and begging for money or a 'ticket restaurant', a food voucher.
It always amazes and repulses me in equal measure that in a first world, economically prosperous country, people are left to live in such awful conditions. They're begging metres from expensive restaurants and expensive apartments. I have the means to rent a room and buy food, which is more than some of these people will ever have. This actually makes me feel a bit sick, because some people beg all day for the bare minimum to stay alive, whereas I have everything I need and more and only do a couple of hours work a week.
Yesterday, my flatmates and I took the metro to a club. During the journey, one homeless guy sitting near us attacked another homeless guy who he seemed to be travelling with. At one point, he threatened him with a metal padlock on the end of a strap. He was swinging it, meaning serious damage. I'm pretty sure that nobody in the train breathed for a moment. Luckily, the other guy managed to calm his attacker down before anything really serious happened.
It really made me think. The violent one was definitely not right mentally and I wondered what sort of life he had led, and what sort of prospects he had in the future, i.e. none. Although these men were human beings just like me and my friends, and we were sharing a train, they almost came from another world, having been outlawed from society. I can't imagine what it must be like, being on the outside and looking in. Sharing city streets with students and businessmen and women, but never being entitled to anything. No wonder the guy had mental health problems.
I don't really know what to do about all this- I do sometimes give to people on the street, especially if its a girl my age or a family, but I've had a lot of people tell me I shouldn't because there's no way of knowing where the money is going. One of my ideas is to somehow get my hands on some 'tickets restaurant'- I don't know if I can buy them to give to people from some sort of organisation, but at least it would ensure that what I give is going towards food. If anyone knows any charities that help the homeless specifically in the Ile-de-France area, please let me know. Once again, that way I'd know that anything that I would give would go to the right place.
Just a few thoughts on a Friday!
K x
Friday, 26 February 2016
Monday, 1 February 2016
Embracing my inner tourist and going to Language Exchanges
I came back to Paris after Christmas feeling like I'd never been away. Apart from a rather nasty surprise of library fines (that's what you get for getting out three different biographies of De Gaulle and forgetting about them), I'm so happy to be back.
It's very cold here; the pond in the Luxembourg gardens has actually iced over! Somehow this only adds to the Parisian charm. The Christmas decorations are still up, although very late at night last week we witnessed somebody lowering her dead Christmas tree out of the window of her fourth floor apartment by a worryingly thin string. The man who we assumed to be her husband waiting to catch it on the ground looked mortified!
There's a new girl on my floor from Egypt studying for a semester at the Sorbonne, which has resulted in me attending most of their Fresher's events! There's so much going on on the international student scene that I wasn't even aware of last term. They have amazing parties most nights a week, latino dancing nights and of course plenty of language exchanges and trips. I can't wait to get involved this term.
I've taken the decision to leave my job, as I've found it increasingly difficult to balance it with my uni work. I have to work the two month notice period, so I'll be finishing mid-March, just before the exams start.
This is really convenient, not only because it means that I'll have so much more time to study, but also because I can go home for a good chunk of the Easter break. It's only been three weeks, but I'm already missing my family and friends way more than last term. During the Christmas break I had such a good time with everyone that it was hard to leave them behind.
That said, when you're in a city like Paris there is always something to do to take your mind off things. I've been up the Arc de Triomphe for the first time, revisited Napoleon's tomb and the army museum at Invalides, and explored the 10ème.
On Sunday, I went with some friends to a language exchange at the tearoom at the big Mosque in the 13ème. We drank very sweet tea and talked about North Korea, which was actually quite fun. I would definitely recommend it!
Important note to any students reading- check out the Covent Garden Soup Company. They make cartons of healthy fresh soup that all you have to do is heat up. Carrot and Coriander is amazing, as is Thai Chicken. You can find them in Monoprix, Franprix and Casino, and I think I'm eating so much better because of it. Gone are the days of different shapes of pasta!
As always, a heap of important assignments have crept up on me and so these next few weeks probably won't be as eventful as the last. I still have heaps of plans, some more adventurous than others (days out of the city visiting castles and concentration camps among them), but they might have to be put on hold until these essays are out the way! I have to constantly keep reminding myself that I'm here to study...
Speaking of, I have to leave for work now.
K x
It's very cold here; the pond in the Luxembourg gardens has actually iced over! Somehow this only adds to the Parisian charm. The Christmas decorations are still up, although very late at night last week we witnessed somebody lowering her dead Christmas tree out of the window of her fourth floor apartment by a worryingly thin string. The man who we assumed to be her husband waiting to catch it on the ground looked mortified!
There's a new girl on my floor from Egypt studying for a semester at the Sorbonne, which has resulted in me attending most of their Fresher's events! There's so much going on on the international student scene that I wasn't even aware of last term. They have amazing parties most nights a week, latino dancing nights and of course plenty of language exchanges and trips. I can't wait to get involved this term.
I've taken the decision to leave my job, as I've found it increasingly difficult to balance it with my uni work. I have to work the two month notice period, so I'll be finishing mid-March, just before the exams start.
This is really convenient, not only because it means that I'll have so much more time to study, but also because I can go home for a good chunk of the Easter break. It's only been three weeks, but I'm already missing my family and friends way more than last term. During the Christmas break I had such a good time with everyone that it was hard to leave them behind.
That said, when you're in a city like Paris there is always something to do to take your mind off things. I've been up the Arc de Triomphe for the first time, revisited Napoleon's tomb and the army museum at Invalides, and explored the 10ème.
On Sunday, I went with some friends to a language exchange at the tearoom at the big Mosque in the 13ème. We drank very sweet tea and talked about North Korea, which was actually quite fun. I would definitely recommend it!
Important note to any students reading- check out the Covent Garden Soup Company. They make cartons of healthy fresh soup that all you have to do is heat up. Carrot and Coriander is amazing, as is Thai Chicken. You can find them in Monoprix, Franprix and Casino, and I think I'm eating so much better because of it. Gone are the days of different shapes of pasta!
As always, a heap of important assignments have crept up on me and so these next few weeks probably won't be as eventful as the last. I still have heaps of plans, some more adventurous than others (days out of the city visiting castles and concentration camps among them), but they might have to be put on hold until these essays are out the way! I have to constantly keep reminding myself that I'm here to study...
Speaking of, I have to leave for work now.
K x
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